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Not saying we are any good, but I like each of our guys. Figure out how to win a few more games and I’ll like this team (for what it is).
Bill nice call.
Even if it’s the Twerps, I hate to see 93 years of tradition getting flushed. But if it had to end, at least we got last taps. G’night, everybody.
I am not trying to make sweeping generalizations, especially after MD had to play like crap for us to pull it out, but….
Does this show that State may play better and with greater energy when they all don’t work hard just for TJ to score? Don’t get me wrong, we need him bad, but, should Gott spread it around a little?
Ewing Theory in full effect
PF — you saw exactly what I saw…
Without Cuz….
1. ANTHONY and Tyler had ZERO turnovers…
2. Dez LEE played great defense
3. Turner hit some three pointers…AND
Our BIGS…. Vandenberg, Anya, Freeman played forty minutes of fearless ball under the basket….AND with fewer options to choose from….
Our Coaches didn’t get creative or boneheaded and try something risky with the game coming down to the wire.We finished the game at 40% shooting after 20% in the first half… but even in the first half we were doing all the right things most of time — the shots just weren’t falling. Contrast that with the last several games where we weren’t doing anything right and it didn’t matter whether the shots were failing or not.
Overall…. except for that dead spot from 15 -8 minutes in the first… we played the most consistent Team ball on both ends we have played this season.
Now… don’t go buy your Eastern Regional tickets just quite yet… the kids are young and they are going to suck again more than a few times before this season is over. But they will NEVER FORGET how it felt to walk off the court tonight AS THE WINNING TEAM (not the same thing as a bunch of guys who scored more points than the other bunch of guys) AND they will use that as they continue to improve.
There were a lot of TV shots of Cuz sitting over there on the bench in his street clothes. When the rest of the bench was jumping up and cheering, Cuz just sat there and smiled a little…. For us to be the best TEAM we can be… Cuz needs to be a leader…. I’m sorry I didn’t see more of that tonight.
If it takes two or three games for his ankle to heal 100%… he should use the time to work on his leadership skills. Some of us haven’t forgotten some of the things that went on last season and Cuz knows what I am talking about.
Now that we have done this ONE TIME…. what we have GOTT to figure out how to do this night after night and with Cuz on floor too.
Tonight against the TWERPS was nothing more and nothing less than one big step in the right direction.
God Bless you Lefty — where ever you are.
#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!^ last I heard, Lefty lives in Virginia Beach. He’s a wonderful guy and has nothing but respect from me.
^I certainly did not think that in 1974 but… today….
I’d pay good money to go sit on his deck and listen to his stories.
I’d even buy the cold beer….#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!Bill.onthebeach,
Well said. Especially about Lefty. He got a raw deal…probably worse than Jimmy V. He single handedly put Davidson on the map (sleeping in the back of his 195X station wagon because Davidson could not afford a hotel room when recruiting). He was a class A character, but he also supported the ACC and was never sour grapes.
Your other comments ring true. Was there. Just got GK’s UNWOUND…stayed for Gott’s radio presser. They are now in bed and we are having a class of vino and off to bed.
The first half was UGLY….as one put it…MEGA Cathy Bates UGLY. The stats were horrible….as was, from the stands, a lot of our playing. In the second half, Vandy was in for about 2 or 3 minutes and then Gott pulled him. Anya played more, I think, in the second half. Tyler actually slowed down bringing the ball up court to let Anya get a head start. Vandy RUNS the court….Anya “LUMBERS” down the court. If that lad loses about 30 pounds and works out this summer, he will be a real key next fall.
I can not explain what happened. The fans actually “left the building” at half. The prime zones were about 50 – 60% full. They had already moved the upper deck down.
But, miracles of miracles….things perked up and the crowd perked up. I have never seen my section of the Champions Club standing up and cheering so much. They are NOT the sit on your hands type. BUT, they are not the stand up and bounce and applaud and yell at every play either.
You could actually FEEL the momentum changing….but like Satchel Page, you were afraid to look back…because they MIGHT be gaining on you.
Wonderful, and much needed, victory. Cudo’s to Coach and team and fans.
If you go the N&O site, the picture of Gott says it all. I have seen him get T’s….but his stomping and body language tonight were WAY past what I have seen. I suspect that he got a warning….but whatever works.
We did not fold with the MD D, like we have before. We were also VERY aggressive on D.
Our shots still looked tentative in the second half. There were a BUNCH that rimmed out or were really “errant” (kindly put….some of our shot selection and execution STUNK) and ill advised. What surprised me is the stats. I would not have guessed that we were over 50%…and we were actually 56.7%. That is NOT what it looked like.
For several minutes in the first half, the ACC Tourney Game where it was 11 – 10 (memory) that Sloan coached in 1968 came to mind. I thought we were going to see a repeat.
To the team…Celebrate Responsibly. HEAL and whatever magic you stole from the genie….use it next week.
On to see the Lady Wolves redeem themselves on Thursday night….
Go Pack and Good Night…
I just saw about 2/3 of the second half (figure that one out), but I didn’t have a problem with TJ’s actions (or lack thereof) on the bench. Some guys are demonstrative, some aren’t. The team won, so maybe he said something in the locker room? Who knows.
I do know that the psychology of team scoring can be an utter mystery. When a team has a guy like TJ he seemingly can score at will, other guys seem to shy away from aggressively looking for their shots. TJ is going to get his, and it helps greatly to have other threats. Even if he gets 22, the team still needs another 43 (in tonight’s case). Make the D respond. TJ scores a lot of follows and opportunistic buckets anyway, so I say take the shot if you got it. I’ve seen it happen at all levels of bball.
I really liked seeing Turner work hard to get open, and Lee’s defense. Lee frustrated Wells, and the late charge call was huge, and correct. I also thought that having Lewis and Barber on at the same time worked fine.
Still need to bump up the FT percentage!
… thanks guys…
Just trying to keep a “well balanced” perspective on this year’s Team and cut down on some of the random insanity that goes on around here sometimes…
and just for Rick…. by my count we won or tied seven out of ten of those four minute periods…
We had three bad periods 2,3 in the first where we basically went scoreless and the last 45 or so seconds in the first half where we had the ball down four and went into the locker room down nine…. IMHO… that last one is all on the Coaches, but nobody’s perfect and that was the only time tonight they weren’t ahead of the curve. Nevertheless, mistakes in the first half only count half as much as the same mistakes in the second half.
The Twerps got the first basket of the second half so that’s a seven point swing in about one minute… At that point… if we hadn’t scored… the game dynamics could have shifted irreversibly.
Instead we grabbed control of the situation and really never looked back. For the first time this season, we had three guys scoring when we needed three guys scoring (as opposed to three guys scoring when it really didn’t matter )– Anthony hit a few baskets driving hard to rim, Turner hit a few threes and our Bigs were cleaning up in the paint…. And we didn’t make but a couple stupid fouls or stupid turnovers… With that, the second half was all ours.
The roundball coaching book says if you do that consistently (win or tie 7 of 10 four minute periods) you should win 20 plus games every season….
Really it just a matter of taking a big job and breaking down into a bunch of little jobs… and playing the percentages.
In baseball…. they say if you do the little, everyday, ordinary things consistently right…over the course of the season… the big, highlight reel plays don’t really matter … you still get to go to the World Series.
And Bennett’s ‘Hoos spanked the Holes…. so all is well ….
Have a good one.
#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!Ewing Theory in full effect
And Ralph Samson
And the UT version of Peyton ManningThere is something to it. Everyone plays harder and more focused to compensate. Play more free, less constricted is such situations under the right circumstances. The sum of the individual increased performances can often outweigh the loss of best player.
We saw a little bit of it last year when Zo went down and Lewis came in for a few games, particularly against Miami.
Cuz needs to be a leader…. I’m sorry I didn’t see more of that tonight.
Ain’t gonna happen, at least not overt leadership. Just not in his makeup. Asking him to do it would be the square peg through the round hole scenario. Would come off forced and fake.
We need organic leadership, but I just don’t see it with this group. Only ones, from my distant view anyway, I see with that potential this season is Lewis and Washington. Unfortunately, I don’t think Lewis’s mind is right to play that role, and Washington is a freshman still feeling like a freshman.
This is two years running now. Not a condemnation of Gott, but not a good sign either.
Say what you will about K, but he’s a great coach and this is exactly one of the reasons why. His players police themselves. So much so, that when there is a failure in this area, it is such the rare exception that it becomes a story of the game. That is not an accident.
^Agree … and I really like Washington as a future leader. Really a lot to like about that guy.
I still think this team has good chemistry, and getting Warren back will help. I hope we can make a run for the NIT and maybe make the ACCT exciting. NCAA is a distant hope, but still alive.
This is like the girlfriend who is either batshit homicidal/insane, or the sweetest thing on two legs.
Dammit Wuf, she HAS a name! LMAO
Note to guys: we have played 32 minutes and committed 11 fouls…
Conspiracists would say that’s because we were playing the Terps. You know, that little $157 million lawsuit thingy. Swofford has never really been one to shy away from outwardly expressing his emotions.
“When the rest of the bench was jumping up and cheering, Cuz just sat there and smiled a little….”
Why wasn’t he playing? Oh, that’s right he has a bum ankle. some lead by jumping up and down and some lead by averaging 22 pts per game.
The unofficial Queen of SFN (tonight, anyway), Ana Ivanovic, gets bounced in the quarters of the Australian Open after beating S. Williams in the previous round
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO[breath]ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Leadership on and off the court falls in the same category as dribbling, passing, shooting, rebounding…. etc.
Just another skill that must be mastered to achieve your personal and your Team goals.
Coaches first job is always to get his players to do the things that they don’t want to do and the things that they don’t yet know they can do.
One of the best things we saw last night…. was our kids trying to do this very thing…. especially in the second half.
It was almost they were taking turns seeing who could take the game over… as if they looked at each other and said ‘Who wants to be our leader’ you try, I’ll try, everybody gets a try. Ball distribution on offense was the best it has been all season in a close game.
Anthony made a couple of baskets off the ANTHONY on three, four or five play and made a jumper or two from the outside, and missed a couple of shots…. but he put together three or four successful plays in a row and started feeling something.
Turner hit a couple of threes and missed more than he made, but he was looking for his shot every time.
Bigs thought they could get every rebound. Doesn’t really matter whether they actually did that or not. Those two or three real easy followups that Mitchell got were the result of our Bigs being a little too aggressive and getting a little out of position. When was the last time, anybody accused our big men of being too aggressive as a unit ???
On loose balls and 50/50 plays we GOTT more than our share.
Coaches just sat back and let the kids work it out.
Overall…. the effort and the result was quite impressive…. all things considered.
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That said… we all have seen this bball movie many times… You find out your Star player can’t play thirty minutes before gametime. Coach looks at the rest of ’em and says ‘It’s all on you guys tonight’. Somebody unexpected or a rookie has a career game. Tyler did the same thing last year against the ‘Hoos.
And the next game, when the star player returns…. either one or two things happen.
This is how you build a TEAM.
Take a negative and turn it into a positive by finding a Team solution.Happy birthday Coach!
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@foose… I was thinking exactly that same thing about that pre-game phone call from Grandover…when I wrote that line last night but didn’t want to stir that pot during the game. Who cares… I’ll take that. Thanks, Johnny.#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!Speaking of Ana’s… I’ve suggested to a few friends that, in the spirit of Title IX, the NCAA should make this (technically SFW) a sanctioned women’s sport. It obviously requires more athletic ability, strength, and fitness that many of the current sports. Trust me, as you watch it, this will become clear. It also has the added bonus of likely creating a brand new revenue sport.
Oh well, it’s a thought.
— thanks ’70…
And yes … the game was UGLY or as Fred Sanford used to say ‘ooo-ga-lee’ or as Mr. Dog used to say ‘coyote-ugly’… in a “beautiful kind of way”….
As most of know first hand… watching your kids grow up is always “ugly” at times…
There’s no greater joy than when they succeed and there’s no greater pain than when they fail.In some way… that’s supposed to be ugly. That’s the real reason we watch the games.
And the next game, when the star player returns…. either one or two things happen….
#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!
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